Business registration: CAC targets specialised markets

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced plans to take business registration process to specialised markets.

The commission said this in a statement signed by Mr Uchenna Arisukwu, Programmes Coordinator, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, on Friday in Abuja.
He said that CAC disclosed the plan when the centre visited the Acting Registrar-General of CAC, Ms Azinge Azuka.

Arisukwu quoted Azuka saying that the aim is to create a seamless registration process.
She said that it was to further reduce time and cost of registration of companies and other post incorporation processes in the country.

“As part of CAC’s openness drive, it has connected 20 of its offices across the country to its online processes to enable its clients perform business registration without inhibitions.
“I hope that the 38 state offices will be covered by March this year.

“In addition to opening its processes for greater and easier access, the commission is taking the business registration process to specialised markets through its mobile registration centres.

“Apparently to show case its new model service which sees its work as business and not public service,’’ Azuka said.

The acting registrar-general said that the commission would also set up a desk to facilitate ease of doing business in Nigeria.

She said that the commission was ready to join the advocacy for increased openness in government as a demonstration to the sustainability of the reforms adopted in CAC.

Azuka called for the support of stakeholders to its proposal to review two aspects of the Companies and Allied Matters Act.

She said that these acts were those relating to annual returns form to ensure that owners of up to five per cent share were fully disclosed in the returns form.
Besides, she said it would be beneficial to owners as incorporated in CAC’s publications.
Dr Garba Abari, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), who was also part of the delegation, said that the visit was a call to ensure wider coverage of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
Abari said this was in line with the principles of citizen engagement and participation in governance process.

He said that the CAC was selected by the OGP stakeholders to demonstrate citizen’s participation in its activities as part of the citizen engagement and empowerment principles of the OGP.
He requested for the setting up of the OGP Desk to enable other stakeholders to interact with the commission with regard to its work and mandate.

On his part, Mr Uchenna Arisukwu, said that the centre had commissioned a research into the extant laws of agencies implementing the OGP commitments which CAC is among.

According to Arisukwu, the report of the research has since been validated by a Government-CSOs roundtable convened by the centre and the reports are being published into a book.

The book, he said, would form the advocacy tool for engaging the relevant stakeholders like the National Assembly into looking at the recommendations of the report to amend these laws for better performance.